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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Adventurers

D:W and I have always liked to travel. We consider the road traveled almost as much fun as the destination. In our travels together, we frequently find ourselves in unusually adventurous circumstances. Our journeys have led us up to crystal mountain lakes, hiking the forests and deserts of several national parks, bar hopping in Paris, skinny-dipping on the remote beaches of Mexico, touring through Tuscany with the top down and getting lost on secluded roads with no destination but whatever lies ahead.

This past trip we've discovered a new sense of adventure…Twin Travel. I have learned in my past travels with the Deuce that no matter how much you plan, unforeseen circumstances will arise beyond your control. This time Twin Travel offered W and I the additional adventures of the three T's... TIME ZONES and TEETHING and (Chicago) TRAFFIC.

I don’t know why it was not on my planning radar (with all my researching and list making I’d done before we left), but the 3-hour time zone change did not ever occur to me. It was only after we arrived in the Midwest when W asked me how we were planning on adjusting the kiddos sleep schedule accordingly.

We opted to not change a thing and see if we can keep the boys on Seattle time for the entire 8 days of travel. This may have worked the first day or two, but what we learned was that all humans (yes babies are humans too) adjust to the time zones they are in and actually children adjust much faster than adults do. This was apparent with O woke us promptly at 6am Indiana time on day 2 of travels, while we were still adjusting with the need for an extra hour or two of sleep.

Just as we were rounding out the 6th day of travel, and getting their naps to somewhat fall in line, we changed it back one hour as we traveled North to Chicago and they got all messed up again. Needless to say, the Deuce were even more confused than their mom about when they were supposed to go to sleep. They definitely let us know with their loud, frequent and ferocious middle of the night wake-ups. As I always say…you mess with a baby's sleep schedule and they WILL mess back!

Another test of our Twin Travel skills was the appearance of F’s first tooth, with O’s close behind. The uninvited travel companion made its grand entrance on day 3 of our travels. F Gubba announced his protest to the unwanted guest in the form of a YELL (not cry) louder than we’d ever heard before. Let me tell you, there is nothing like knocking on the door of our welcoming hosts with two teething 6 month olds in tow, not knowing what kind of new screams our babies will learn during our stay. Never the less, all of our family and friends with whom we stayed with were more than gracious and accommodating for our traveling circus. Thank you Annie for sharing your nurse/mother wisdom about sleep, teething, infant medications and bottle-feeding (all of which I still am unable to fully comprehend).

The last of our trials involved the ungodly temperatures currently blanketing the Midwest. The heat was heavily weighing down on us, keeping us ‘air-conditioning hopping’ indoors throughout the week. I may sound like a wimp, but us Seattle-lites (the Deuce included) are not used to such heat and humidity. On the way up to the family wedding in Chicago we found that our rental car’s AC did not work nearly as well enough to keep our precious cargo cool and happy while in traffic. The Deuce protested the heat off and on for several hours while we inched our way through the bumper-to-bumper traffic. What are ya gonna do.

Looking back W and I are so happy that we made this trip as fun filled as we possibly could…with friends and family welcoming our whirling dervish with open arms at every turn. With the amount of work it takes to pull a trip like that off, I can see how some twin parents might choose not to travel. But I encourage them to try it…as long as they are feeling adventurous.

It's interesting to hear about you temporarily forgetting the time change issue. We kind of did the same thing (but proportionally so) when we took our then-3 1/2-year-old twins to Latvia 3 years ago. We assumed that since it normally took us about 3 days to adjust on our previous trips to Europe (no, we're not wealthy, we're just old, and, like you, we place great value on travel!), it would take our twins about the same amount of time. Wrong wrong wrong - after we got back, a friend casually mentioned that for each hour of time change, we should expect a day of adjustment! We would like to have known that ahead of time, because at about day 5, when they were still acting looney, we began to worry. But then, almost magically at day 8, everything settled. And as it happens, Latvia is 7 hours ahead of us. So it seems that while babies are very flexible in adjusting, doing so more rapidly than their parents, older kids (starting at what age? Don't know) may follow this other "rule" of one day per hour of time change. Just thought you'd like to know for next time.Aina B.

Did you know that Parents Magazine is looking for stories on traveling with kids? They also want pictures, and yours are great!

"Do you think you could be a travel writer? Tell us about your latest family vacation-we want the blow by blow on your trip, where you stayed, what you saw, did, loved, hated. We'll need your photos too..." mailbag@parentsmag.com

We did two of the three T's back in June. Getting stuck in Chicago traffic for 3 hours with 4 1/2 month old hungry babies was not the highlight of our trip...but certainly something we will never forget! And the heat and humidity (which I am sure was WAY worse in August than it was back in June) was something that our little Alaskan babies had to get used to.

We attempted to keep them on AK time, which worked for the first day. Then we said screw it, since they pretty much dictated their own schedules. I was nervous about travelling then, since they had just started sleeping through the night (and I was returning to work a few hours after we got home from Chi-town). But, as much as babies thrive on a schedule, they are also very adaptable. We were lucky to have them back on AK time just as soon as we got back home.

Although you had the 3rd "T" (Teething), which we are dealing with now...and man, I can't imagine travelling with them right now. Not only would we have to sleep far far away from anyone else (due to their nightime shreiking episodes), but we would need to be in close proximity to ice at all times!!